Aftermath
by PsychoLioness
Summary: She knowns something, she's dreamt it, now she has to face the reality... (Just something that I wrote to help with my piano, for explation, see inside)


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing! I'm just using the characters. Don't sue! (I don't have enough money for you to sue me with anyway…)

A/N: Okay, so I know that people hate really long author notes at the beginning of stories (or at least I do), but this time it is really necessary, honest! And I'll try to make it as short as possible.

Basically I was ordered to write a short story to express the emotions of a piece I am playing on the piano for my Grade VI at the moment because in the words of my piano tutor 'it has no soul'. So, I've got to play it with 'lots of soul', and write a story to go alongside it. So I thought to myself I'll write a fan fiction. And that would be fine, there's only one problem…

If you know the piece I'm playing at the moment ('Une Larme' composed by Musorgsky in 1861) you'll know that it is a very very sad piece, almost desolate. So, this is meant to be vaguely sad (it probably won't be, don't think I'm good at writing sad and depressing things). So…Don't kill me, I really didn't want to do this, but what else was I meant to do?

On with the story…

**Aftermath**

_Her eyes flickered open, and then closed again, the effort too much to keep them open. Forcing herself, she opened her eyes and shakily got to her feet._

_The sight that met her eyes would haunt her dreams for the rest of her living days and beyond. In the distance, the grand structure that was once New Hope was burning furiously, completely wild and there was no one to put it out. For the second time, the Scanrans had completely destroyed the fort that Lady Kel had commanded._

_Worry ran through her, where was Lady Kel? Where were any of the people she knew? Sir Neal, Tobe, Kel's husband Dom, Sir Merric, Sir Raoul? She scanned the area around her, but she could see nothing but bodies. Delicately, she picked her way through the dead bodies, the amount wearing Tortallan colours was too much for her liking. Their army had been thrashed, but they had taken down plenty of the Scanran enemy with them._

_There was a blue and silver movement, and hope filled the girl, the colours of the King's Own! She ran over the bodies with no respect for the dead that she trampled with her delicate feet._

_"Have the decency to kill me!" a voice croaked._

_"Sergeant Dom?" the child gasped. "Where's Lady Kel?"_

_His weary face became worried. "She's not with you? Or at Haven?"_

_The child shook her head, worry filling her again. "I – I haven't seen her since the battle horn."_

_Dom groaned, and tried to stand. He winced and fell back onto the ground. It was only then that the child noticed the arrows embedded into his side and the dried blood that had caked his once handsome uniform._

_"You shouldn't get up!" the young girl said firmly._

_"Help me up, now!" The sergeant growled. "I command you to."_

_The child sighed. It was an order, she had to obey. She glared at Dom. "You'll regret this later," and helped him up._

_"Who said I'll live to see later?" Dom asked, with mild amusement. "I think I've joined the walking dead."_

_The child couldn't say why she said what she did then. "You will live."_

_Dom regarded her with shock plastered on his face. "If you say so. Now, help me find Kel."_

_The child nodded, and supporting Dom's weight, they trudged over to where she was supposedly commanding._

_There was a movement behind them, a strange sort of a sound, almost animal._

_The girl spun around, and grimaced at the sight that met her. Two Scanran Warriors were staring at her, their breathing laboured, but it was clear that they wanted to make one last kill before they gave themselves up to the Black God. She cursed, and dropped Dom as she leapt at them with a loud war cry that pierced the damp air like a knife. Thanks to Lady Kel, she knew she could take them down, the only question was would she too die in the process?_

_A well aimed Shang kick had one man on the ground, and the knife that she plunged into his neck made sure he was dead. The remaining Scanran growled menacingly at her, and kicked her hard in the stomach. Gasping, the girl fell to the floor and the Scanran lifted up his sword and brought it down hard on her neck…_

_***_

_The child felt out of place. Surrounding her were people she knew were dead, Blayce and Stenmun, even the face of the long dead Duke Roger of Conté._

_"It is not your time," a voice said, and a cold hand rested on her shoulder. The dead disappeared, and the voice repeated itself. "It is not your time yet, your time will come soon, very soon."_

_The girl turned, and saw the Black God, his kindly face looking down on her._

_***_

_"For Mithros' sake, wake up!" a weak voice said._

_Her eyes fluttered open. "I'm alive again," she said, and got up._

_"Goddess!" Dom exclaimed. "You died then!"_

_She nodded her head slowly. "I know." Then she shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the words the Black God had said to her. "We need to find Lady Kel."_

_Dom nodded. "I know. Come on."_

_They stumbled towards the burning building that used to be their home._

_"I can't believe they managed to do this!" Dom berated himself. "We should have seen it coming!"_

_The child looked up at his haggard face. "You couldn't have prevented it, it was meant to happen. It's the first part in the downfall of Tortall." Suddenly her voice rang out, clear through the battlefield. "Tortall was a great realm, but even the great must fall. Eventually Tortall will rise again, twice as mighty, twice as strong, but first it must fall."_

_Dom looked at her in horror. "Don't say that, I don't want to hear it._

_The girl blinked, and her voice returned to normal. "Sorry."_

_"Come on, let's find Kel."_

_***_

_The flames licked at her skin, the pain unbearable, but she kept going. She closed her eyes and crawled through the corridors, hoping that her memory served her right. When she got to what she thought was the right corridor, the screams of a child pieced the air._

_Shocked, she crawled faster. She hadn't expected anyone to be alive, she was just making this trip, risking her life, because she knew she had to, and because Dom wanted to make it himself, and there was no way she was going to let that happen. If she knew nothing else, she knew he needed to live._

_Reaching out for the child, she found a bigger body, and instantly she knew why she had to come. It was Lady Kel, she had tried to save the children, and had risked her own life to do it._

_Gasping for air, the child pulled Lady Kel and the screaming child through the corridors, it felt like they were getting heavier, and heavier…_

_***_

_"Come," a gentle voice called. She found it strangely compelling, and moved towards it. "You've done well, my child," the voice said again._

_She looked up, and saw the mysterious face of the Black God._

_"You completed the task set for you, despite the sacrifices. Now you can be sure that one day, Tortall will rise again. Look, your sacrifice was worth it, was it not?"_

_The God showed her a couple embracing in what looked like a medic's tent, and she gasped as she recognised them as Lady Kel and Sergeant Domitan. Dom must have rescued Kel, done what she couldn't._

_"They will both live, at points they will wish they hadn't, but they both have important parts to play in the downfall of Tortall."_

_The God held out his hand, and she took it. Together, they walked towards the gates of his realm._

Irnai sat up in her bed sweating, another death vision. She cursed loudly. They were coming to often now, the same vision again and again. It was a sure sign that it would soon happen, and she dreaded the day it would.

Suddenly, all over Haven, birds started shrieking and a loud horn was blown three times. Irnai cringed, the call to come to battle…

**~***~**

A/N: I sure hope that was suitably depressing, but I don't think it was. I just can't figure out how to make it depressing. And for any of you who are about to complain to me about how men of the Own can't marry, well now they can, 'cos I said so. Oh well. If you actually read this, thanks.

Do you think I ought to write some more? To me, it just feels unfinished. Ah well, might write a sequel, if I have the time.

Oh, and if you can think of a better title, please let me know!

PsychoLioness13


End file.
